My steering wheel is slightly cocked to the right when driving straight. How do I realign it?

Don't feel like spending a whole bunch of money to take it to get the whole car aligned.

Thanks

 

That's an indication of a bad alignment. You probably hit a pothole. The only way to properly align the wheel is to get an alignment. If you're asking about popping off the wheel and putting it back on a tooth over, not only is that unlikely to get it perfectly straight, but the distance the wheel travels when it's completely left is different than completely right. That's more annoying and stupid than not having the wheel centered. And once you misalign the steering wheel, it's a pain in the *** to ever get it right again.

 

wouldnt an alignment be the most reasonable solution? A front wheel align isnt that much....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Integra_drk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wouldnt an alignment be the most reasonable solution? A front wheel align isnt that much....</TD></TR></TABLE>

No.. He wants a 4 wheel alignment or nothing. The odds are good that aligning the front wheels only will still leave the steering wheel cocked. A 4 wheel alignment is aimede at reducing the thrust angle as well as centering the steering rack. Should cost under $100 and worth every penny.

Note that if you have bent **** in the suspension an alignment may not be able to fix your problem but can at least point out that you have bent ****.

 

thanks for all the info guys.

i didn't hit anything though. i just had the tires changed and after i this little annoyance. i probably should get an alignment done though. i was just wondering if there was a way to center the steering wheel. for example, after an alignment is done on a Rabbit, you center the steering wheel by loosening the clamps on the rack and moving it over alittle.

thanks again

 

you should get the alignment regardless.

the only centering of the steering wheel you can do is to go to the next spline over by popping the steering wheel off and putting it back on one notch over. but you should be able to know what the true center position of the wheel should be after you get an alignment.

once, i put the steering wheel on offset unknowingly and then adjusted the tie rods to compensate. then ended up just going to the alignment shop anyway and after he was finished, the steering wheel was cocked and he told me to move it over and itll be straight. sure enough, he set it dead on.

so basically, he didnt use the steering wheel to determine the center, i guess he used the whole stroke of the steering rack to determine the true center. so either way, just get an alignment, dont try to cover it up by offsetting the steering wheel.

 

alignment done... problem fixed.


Thanks